O my dear sister! I have read what you wrote, and as I became aware of the content, I wept
bitter tears. Then I carried the letter itself to
`Abdu'l-Bahá and He read it from beginning to
end. These terrible events in Yazd call for cries and
lamentation, and the shedding of tears of fire.

2

Although `Alí's foes, on the plains of Kárbilá,
came as a rushing torrent of affliction against the
Prince of Martyrs,
[1]
and even as ravening wolves,
tore at the breasts of the favoured ones of the Court
of Holiness, and wreaked their hate upon them and
lifted their heads onto pikes--they leading out an
expedition against the hapless victims, and carrying
away all that these possessed--yet the span of that
agony at Kárbilá was but from the morning until
noon, while the ordeal of the martyrs of Yazd lasted
one entire month. And further, the companions of
the Prince of Martyrs--may the souls of all those
killed on the holy Path be offered up for him!--made
to defend themselves, and each one of them felled a
number of those foes of `Alí's House, spilled out the
others' blood, before being martyred themselves.
But these innocent victims of Yazd looked on their
murderers with smiles, and gently welcomed them,
and in exchange for the swords' blows offered honey
and milk. Those set the blade to the victims' throats,
but the martyrs presented them with sweets; those
cursed and vilified them, while the martyrs implored
God to forgive their murderers.

3

Although the slain on God's path at Kárbilá were
truly victims, helpless, innocent, so that the Concourse
on High wept fiery tears over what the tyrants
did in the desert there, still, we know that before
every one of those great martyrs, some who battled
against them fell down and died. But the martyrs of
Yazd, at the onslaught of the foe, and under the
tyrant's sword, uttered not even an unseemly
word...

4

Truly the harried survivors of these wronged ones
have been subjected to the severest of ordeals, nor can
any balm be found to soothe their wound, nor is there
any antidote against this lethal drink. For them, every
new morning is a new martyrdom.

5

Praise be to God, through the grace and favour of
the Abhá Beauty--may all souls be offered up for
those who are slain upon His path--the friends
everywhere have arisen to do what they can for these
survivors. But whatever we may do in such circumstances
and however much we may sacrifice, it is
still not enough, and they merit more. I hope that,
with the confirmations of the Abhá Kingdom, we
may be enabled to offer up our hearts and souls for
the children of the martyrs, and think of ourselves as
the servants of those noble ones.